£4,900 / 27.5in / orangebikes.co.uk
A
nyone expecting a radical overhaul for Orange’s iconic
Five in 2019 — perhaps a chain idler to complement
a super-high pivot or a carbon-fibre front end — will
be disappointed to see the addition of bottle bosses
under the down tube as the most forward-thinking
modification. The rest, though, will be pleased to see the
Five retain its classic silhouette, alloy frame and fun trail bike
attitude, with Orange adding length, suspension refinements
and a stunning new paintjob to make a great bike better still.
Indeed, Orange says its bikes change continually, but
because it’s an evolution rather a revolution, it’s harder to spot.
I half agree, the Five hasn’t led the technology charge over the
past five years in terms of construction, materials, geometry
or sizing. But what it has done is constantly tweak the bike to
keep it relevant — 27.5in wheels were added in model year
2014, slimmer tubing to save weight arrived in 2015 and this
year Orange adopted the new SRAM DUB axle standard, to
name just a few improvements.
This Five, then, has an extra 5mm of travel, taking it to
145mm, and the RS-specced version I rode came with a
150mm-travel Fox 34 fork, although production bikes will come
with a RockShox Pike RCT3. Fives have traditionally outsold
the longer-travel Alpine but in recent months it’s become more
of an even split, Orange says, showing that riders are looking
for gnarlier bikes with more travel. The important details are
that the bike has now adopted a metric shock with 210mm
eye-to-eye length, and to accommodate this and also make the
bike more progressive, the shock position has moved slightly,
mounting to the down tube lower and leaving the shock in a
near-horizontal position.
The geometry has also changed — the head angle is now
a shade slacker at 65° and the bottom bracket has dropped
5mm. Combine that with the extra travel the bike now has and
it’s a sizeable and much improved shift lower.
There’s a shake-up in sizing too — the XS has been dropped
and there’s a new XXL size up and over XL for taller riders.
This gives the XL bike 10mm more reach and a measurement
of 483mm, which is exactly the same size as a XL Santa Cruzneed to
know
● Iconic trail bike
with single-pivot
suspension, 27.5in
wheels and now
145mm travel
● RockShox
suspension with
Super Deluxe shock
and Pike RCT3
on this RS build,
with option to
upgrade both
● Sorted contact
points, with 800mm
Renthal bar and
50mm stem and
custom SDG saddle
● Burlier in 2019
with a longer back
end, slacker head
angle and lower BB
orAnge five rs
Can a geometry upgrade and suspension boost
improve Orange’s trail bike classic?
new bikes
Down tube bottle
boss is a mixed
blessing